GameStop’s New Venture: GameTrust, A Game Publisher

Image courtesy of maulleigh

Realizing that the business of selling consoles and physical copies of new and used games in malls won’t last forever, GameStop has been working to diversify its business, acquiring related businesses ranging from third-party Apple store chain Simply Mac to pop culture purveyor ThinkGeek. The company is now starting a new venture even more closely related to its core business: GameTrust, which will publish games from outside developers, and distribute them to its customers.

They’re not starting a game studio, which would develop new titles from the ground up, but partnering with game studios that will take care of the creative and technical side of developing new games while GameStop distributes them. They’ll sell the new studio’s games in their stores and online, and they’ll be available for PCs, consoles, and on physical media and downloads.

The first game that will come from the deal will be the Song of the Deep from Insomniac Studios, scheduled for release sometime this summer. So far, GameTrust has also made deals with Ready at Dawn Studios, Tequila Works, and Frozenbyte to publish games yet to be announced.

GameTrust [Official Site]

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